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“If Manchester United wanted to sign a new central defender, they should have tried to sign Van Dijk but they were the only big club who didn’t.

“Van Dijk was the best available central defender on the market and they didn’t buy him.

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“Alderweireld was the best available central defender on the market this summer and they didn’t buy him either. Why not?

“Those are two players who have proven to be two of the best defenders in the Premier League but Manchester United didn’t take advantage.

“I can understand why Manchester United didn’t want to pay huge money for Harry Maguire because he isn’t at that level.”

Mourinho’s belief that he needed to bring in new defenders was highlighted no more than in the 3-2 defeat to Brighton at the weekend.

Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly were both criticised for their display with Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville suggesting that United have ‘no chance’ of winning the Premier League title with the defence that they have.

(Image: GETTY)

And Murphy says Mourinho is to blame for bringing the pair to Old Trafford and for their lack of confidence.

“Lindelof and Bailly aren’t looking like the strong central defenders that we know they are and Mourinho needs to take some of the responsibility for that,” he said.

“They’re lacking confidence and that is down to the manager, who has publicly spoken about how he wants to replace them with new signings and is showing his unhappiness that it didn’t happen.

“However, both Lindelof and Bailly also need to take responsibility because this is a chance to prove the manager wrong but they aren’t taking it.

“If a manager signs a player, they need to give the player an opportunity to pay them back, but Mourinho hasn’t even given Lindelof a chance.

“The board potentially didn’t want to back Mourinho with more money to spend on a central defender this summer because they’ve seen what he’s done with Lindelof.”

United already look way off the pace in the Premier League with rivals Manchester City and Liverpool winning both games so far and looking stronger than ever.

The Red Devils welcome Spurs, who have also won both matches, to Old Trafford on Monday.